Tuesday, January 1, 2013

High air pollution choking Indore

INDORE: Here is a news to worry for Indoreans. The level of air pollution in the city is increasing with every passing year and so is the amount of suspended particulates (PM10).This can be scary for the city residents with the new findings of Global Burden of Disease (GBD) count, a global initiative involving the World Health Organization, revealing that air pollution has emerged as one of the top 10 killers in the world. GBD findings say 65 per cent of the air pollution deaths occur in Asia and close to quarter of this in India. Indore ranks among 20 most polluted cities of India.

Chief chemist of Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) Aparna Bapat said the on-going construction activities, increasing traffic and population are the main reasons behind increasing pollution in the city. The level of PM 10 (dust particulates) is more than double the normal level here.

According to statistics of MPPCB, yearly average of PM 10 in Indore is in the range of 125 to 140 in year 2012 against 101 to 128 in year 2010. The standard level of PM 10 is 60. The level of PM 10 is constantly increasing in different parts of the city.

Bapat said high level of dust particulate in the air causes lung problems and respiratory-related problems. It easily goes inside our body during respiration process and damages body functioning.

Executive director of research and advocacy and head of air pollution unit, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said air pollution has emerged as one of the major health risks for the country.

Elaborating about the alarming threat to human health due to air pollution, he said according to air pollution around 3.2 million deaths have occurred world wide. In Asia, air pollution has emerged among the top 10 'killers.' The new GBD estimates over 2.1 million premature deaths and 52 million years of healthy lives lost in 2010 due to fine particle air pollution in Asia, out of this 7,12,000 deaths occurred in South Asia (including India).

Environment expert, Suresh Surana said every year nearly one lakh vehicles are added on Indore road. As of now, Indore has a population of around 25 lakh and nearly 13 lakh vehicles ply on roads. Construction of houses, malls and road is in progress across the city and it is contributing to increase in air pollution.

"Fog of dust particles can be seen on AB Road even in the night which is not good for health," Surana said adding no one can escape toxic air. It is a risky affair for all particularly the children, elderly, and poor. Long latency period can even lead to serious consequences.